The Papua New Guinea Defence Force may also be called upon to assist with law enforcement when police resources prove inadequate to prevent or control civil strife.

People who have not have defence force training may confuse the role of the military with that of police and other law enforcement personnel.

It’s a mistake that is easy to make. After all, like the military, the police is a disciplined, uniformed, well trained service responsible to the government of the day.

However, the roles of each service are completely different.

The police force exists to deal with civilian law enforcement while the primary role of the defence force is to respond to external threats, if necessary using lethal force.

In the past, Papua New Guinea has used defence force personnel where police resources are inadequate to effectively respond to emergencies or where the government needs extra personnel to deliver services to the people.

Given that both police and military are trained to deal with hostile situations, are disciplined uniformed and may carry firearms, situations can arise between police whose training and powers of arrest are focused on community law enforcement and the military, which exists in the main part to defend the nation against external threat.

In PNG, the use of firearms by police has escalated significantly over the years and there are instances where officially-issued firearms have ended up in the hands of others. But police, like defence force personnel, are entitled to be able to defend themselves if attacked.

When civilian conflict is such that it overwhelms the resources of the Royal Papua New Guinean Constabulary, the defence force needs to be called upon to maintain law and order.

In Papua New Guinea, where the RPNGC is demonstrably short of resources, there have been many occasions where the PNGDF has been called upon to provide support, and I daresay this situation will extend into the future.

Studies have shown that PNG’s police force is chronically under strength. It has the lowest ratio of police officers to population in the Pacific Islands.

In a country where the economy is constantly under pressure and community dissatisfaction with the government’s competence and honesty is growing, the presence of a disciplined, well trained and well-armed defence force can be viewed as a temptation to extend its operations into the grander role of replacing the elected government, temporarily or permanently.